Story & Characters
Guilty Pleasures. Out of everything that I enjoy, I always return to those series that I find to be guilty pleasures.
These series are normally something that isn't truly exception, but at the same time are not exactly terrible
either. They find a proper balance and appeal to us on a personal level that keeps us coming back for more, despite the
fact that they may not be worth a revisit. This is the best way I can describe Infinite Stratos. A pure guilty
pleasure and maybe just a little bit more.
Infinite Stratos follows the life of Ichika Orimura, a young man who is the first known male that can pilot the
legendary mecha-style exo-skeleton, Infinite Stratos (IS). These units, for unknown reasons, only respond to females.
So, when Ichika activates one, you can image the shock. He then enrolls in the all girls school of IS academy.
It's not hard to figure out that this series is going to take the harem route and wastes no time getting the
characters established. We are first introduced to Houki Shinonono, childhood friend of Ichika and playing the part of
the typical tsundere in the series. We are then introduced to the Cecilia Alcott, who immediately challenges Ichika to
a duel to decide who should be class president and falls for him under the philosophy of "He has bested me so now I
automatically admire him for no real reason". Shortly afterwards, Huang Lingyin, another childhood friend of
Ichika, transfers in. This is followed by Charlotte Dunois, who disguises herself as a boy and then immediately drops
the disguise for relatively no reason. Lastly we are rounded off with another tsundere, Laura Bodewig. Each character,
while fairly stereotypical, is a welcomed addition to the show and brings a certain extra appeal to it.
The series itself wastes no time gathering all the cast together and establishing the reasons for why each of the main
female characters like Ichika. Hilarity and stereotypical antics ensue, along with two completely pointless filler
episodes and a thrown-out-of-left-field serious turn for the ending. While IS maybe stereotypical in many areas, it
does more than enough to break the mold. Ichika, while dense, is a likeable character. He generally misunderstands
vague hints the girls give that they like him, enough to a level that the audience can understand and not brush it off
as him just being a complete dunce. It also helps that he's a strong character that cares about his friends,
helping to add more depth than what we normally see from most harem series. It also helps that each of the five ladies
also have very different personalities and we get to know each of them rather well (or at least in comparison to most
harem series), with the exception of Cecilia and Huang, who don't get nearly enough development compared to the
rest. Aside from that, my only real issue is with Charlotte. They go through great depth to explain why she disguised
herself and she forms a bond with Ichika over it. Yet, for some random reason, this is completely dropped in the next
episode. So what was the point of even having this scene if the show immediately decides, "Oh wait, I change my
mind. I don't want to do this anymore".
One of the biggest issues I have with IS is that it doesn't know what it wants to do. The first five
episodes do a great job introducing the cast and setting the stage for the final act, but then over half way through
we're thrown two filler episodes that take place at a beach and an inn for no better reason than they simply do.
While there was some plot established and progression was made, these episodes just get thrown in there and really do
nothing to forward the series. While not nearly as bad as The Sacred Blacksmith, they also don't really help in
this twelve episode run of the series. It makes it even more confusing because the series takes a fairly serious turn
for the final episodes. While the series has generally had a light-hearted tone, I felt that these filler episodes made
it even more of a noticeable change than had they not been introduced. Yet all the same, I enjoyed the short story that
was told and wouldn't mind seeing more of it.
Rating: 6
Art
One of the things that really makes IS a treat is it's art. This is a beautiful series, there is no doubt
about it. Characters are well animated and fairly far from static. Environments are beautiful and I really loved the
studios decision to change the classroom to a more futuristic look instead of the traditional school scene from the
manga. However, the true star of the show are the IS battles. These are, hands down, the best part of the show.
Beautifully done, they provide plenty of detail and are far from simplistic. My only complaint was that there simply
wasn't enough of them. However, there were more than enough to truly enjoy.
While the art style itself isn't revolutionary, nor is it ground breaking, it does the job and it looks darn
good doing that job too. This, in my opinion, is extremely exceptional artwork for a TV series.
Rating: 7
Sound
Sound is another department that, while well done, truly doesn't leave any outstanding impressions. The voice
work was very well done, with Koki Uchiyama doing a wonderful job as Ichika Orimura. While not a diverse character, Mr.
Uchiyama went above and beyond to give Ichika that extra bit of depth. Yoko Hikasa (Houki) , Yukana (Cecilia), Asami
Shimoda (Huang), Kana Hanazawa (Charlotte) and Marina Inoue (Laura) all did a great job as well as the lead female
characters, alongside Megumi Toyoguchi (she voiced Ichika's older sister Chifuyu, who is a legendary IS pilot and a
teacher at the IS academy).
Music itself fit each individual scene rather nicely and battle music was well constructed to give a rather
epic and emotional feel to it, but honestly I didn't really notice the music too much until the final episodes.
This is when the series sound design really shined for me. While nothing truly to write home about, it was well done
and fitting for the series.
Rating: 7
Presentation
Infinite Stratos (IS) is fairly stereotypical in many aspects. It also doesn't dive that deep into a plot
during its twelve episode run. However, what it does do it does rather well. From the animation, to the well casted
VAs, to the premises, IS is definitely above average in every aspect. While certainly not an legendary anime, it's
certainly enough for me to consider it a guilty pleasure and recommend it for those that don't mind harem series.
Bear in mind that IS flirts more with being mediocre than above average, but it is
above average for a harem series.
This is a series that I plan on picking up as soon as it's released in the US. It's definitely one of my
top ten guilty pleasures, even if it's stereotypical in so many manners. Not to mention it has the most unintentionally hilarious
scene I have ever viewed.
Rating: 6
Final Verdict
6.3333 (average)
Reviewed by CyanideBlizzard, Apr 03, 2011
